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From "keeping pets alive" to "keeping pets well and with style," Shanghai's pet economy has evolved into a modern lifestyle centered on emotional connections, with a particularly notable trend of "pet humanization" and "pet familyization," which also drives the continuous growth of the "pet economy." To clearly depict the overall landscape of Shanghai's pet economy, deeply analyze its current development, and optimize industry service offerings, the Hongkou District Consumer Protection Committee (Health Consumption Office of the Municipal Consumer Protection Committee) recently conducted a consumer survey, revealing the changes and challenges in Shanghai's pet economic development.

The new generation pays for love

A total of 3037 valid questionnaires were collected for this survey, of which over 80% were from the post-90s and post-00s generations (including parents of post-00s generation). These affluent new generations treat their pets as "family" and "children", with full emotional support. Meanwhile, the male participants in the survey prefer to purchase functional staple foods and consumables, while the female participants prefer to pay for beauty, clothing, and emotional interaction expenses.

The survey also found that the middle-income group with a monthly income of 3000-8000 yuan has supported the basic consumption of pets, while the high-income group has made outstanding contributions in the premium service field. About 80% of pet owners consider their pets as emotional support and are willing to pay a premium for "health," "convenience," and "experience. In addition, they are highly sensitive to product ingredients and service professionalism, and are willing to share their pets' daily lives on social media.

Healthcare is the biggest pain point

In the survey, the average monthly pet consumption of pet owners in Shanghai is concentrated in the range of 500-1000 yuan, and the estimated annual market size is between 23 billion yuan and 25 billion yuan.

Where did Shanghai pet owners spend their money? The survey found that staple foods and snacks are still the largest base, accounting for about 70% of monthly consumption, with fresh food and customized grains leading the growth rate. Healthcare is the second largest expenditure and the most rigid in decision-making, accounting for about 20% of monthly consumption. Health and medical care are also the biggest "pain points" in the pet economy, with an average fee of 385 yuan per diagnosis and treatment, and over 77% of pet owners consider it "expensive". In addition, service experience accounts for about 10% of monthly consumption, and "non essential" items such as beauty, foster care, training, photography, behavior correction, and funeral services are gradually becoming "essential needs".

The survey also found that online e-commerce is still the main channel for product purchases, but offline channels provide experiential services and instant demand satisfaction in food trials and product experiences, which are irreplaceable.

In terms of service acquisition, pet owners highly rely on offline, but before making a choice decision, social media (Xiaohongshu, Tiktok) comments and friend recommendations are key information sources. It is worth mentioning that pet owners have a strong demand for convenient and reliable services within a 3-kilometer radius of the community.

Suggest implementing price transparency

The investigating party believes that the pet economy market has a high level of maturity, a large scale of consumption, complete business formats, and full coverage from birth to death. Pet owners' consumption is driven by emotions, with highly emotional consumption decisions and a strong willingness to pay for "love", which has also given rise to high premium services. At the same time, insufficient service standardization, low medical transparency, and shortage of professional talents are the three major pain points reflected by the respondents. In addition, "pet friendly" has become a new trend in Shanghai, with over 46 pet friendly parks and shopping malls emerging in Shanghai.

The Consumer Protection Commission believes that in the future, Shanghai's pet economy is expected to achieve greater development in market expansion, consumption upgrading, the rise of domestic brands, diversified service specialization, digital and intelligent integration, and social responsibility fulfillment. Therefore, the Consumer Protection Commission recommends that service providers implement price transparency, especially in the medical field, by providing clear price lists and treatment plans; Optimize the service model, combine with the willingness of pet owners, provide one-stop services of "washing and care+retail+light medical care" around the community, and enhance customer stickiness; Upgrade the service concept and emphasize the value of ritual and emotional comfort in services such as photography, funeral, and travel.

For brand owners, the Consumer Protection Commission suggests optimizing product introductions by introducing product ingredients and health values in a scientific and easy to understand manner; Layout offline experiences and establish physical connections with consumers through pop-up stores, joining boutique pet stores, and other means.

For the operators of public places such as shopping malls, office buildings, and parks, the Consumer Protection Commission suggests that when creating "pet friendly" places, not only should pets be allowed to enter, but also supporting services should be provided, pet facilities should be equipped, pet access rules and management standards should be clarified, and prominently displayed.